


Sit Still, Look Pretty

by Toomanyfandoms99



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 13:24:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14136930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toomanyfandoms99/pseuds/Toomanyfandoms99
Summary: Padme couldn’t recall the exact age or instance or reasons that made her want to be a politician.Her parents once told her that politicians were government servants for the well-being of the people, and she thought that sounded like a noble profession.





	Sit Still, Look Pretty

**Author's Note:**

> The title was taken from the song of the same name by Daya. Enjoy!

Padme Naberrie never saw much need for extravagance.

She would look at all the latest styles and fashionable clothing in the holos, and couldn’t see a reason for it all.

Her family had modest wealth, but she didn’t understand why the rich wasted money on unnecessary baubles and gaudy formalwear.

But she was young, and she would learn why soon enough.

————

Padme couldn’t recall the exact age or instance or reasons that made her want to be a politician.

Her parents once told her that politicians were government servants for the well-being of the people, and she thought that sounded like a noble profession.

————

When she started campaigning for queenship, Padme had doubts.

Would she be enough to make a real difference, for Naboo and her people?

Would she be an effective leader, with the ideals instilled in her by her family?

Would she be educated enough to solve any issues that Naboo might have?

Would she be skilled enough at subterfuge, at switching places with her handmaidens, at not letting the makeup and lavish clothing wear her?

Would she be strong enough to hold her own in heated debates, and keep a clear head?

Padme’s training accounted for these things, but her doubts were infused in her, chipping away her collected interior and blank exterior.

————

Her handmaidens became her only friends.

They were her bodyguards, her shield if she was attacked, her protection.

And they were well-versed in just about everything.

Each one had their expertise, of course, but their intellects amazed Padme.

She did not feel inadequate, exactly, but she figured her role of being a queen was her area of expertise.

She soon became awfully curious about what her handmaidens were trained to do.

And that’s when Padme Amidala decided to train with them.

————

Padme had always enjoyed the water.

Swimming was her favorite pastime. 

Padme decided to bring the handmaidens to her favorite lake when she discovered that a few couldn’t swim.

How could one live on Naboo, and not know how to swim?

So, Padme and the other well-versed swimmers in her company spent a day out on the lake.

It hit her suddenly that the entire fate of Naboo rested on the shoulders of a dozen teenage girls.

And those teenage girls were giggling and splashing each other in a secluded lake.

Padme stifled a laugh.

————

Padme Amidala never saw the need for parties.

They were a show of wealth and power, she knew that.

But a part of her was still that girl who was blissfully unaware of the importance of such outlandish outfits and exorbitant dinner displays.

Padme knew that some of her naivety was present in her mind. Of course it was, she was still young.

And yet, she wondered: when did parties become political power plays?

————

Padme had become too good at hiding her internal plights.

In other words, her mask had become airtight. No one could discern her thoughts behind the steel of her brown eyes, behind the white and red paint caked on her face.

She was unsure if this was a good or bad thing.

————

Padme Naberrie and Padme Amidala were two very different girls.

Padme Naberrie was naive, liked to swim, and was the perfect daughter and sister.

Padme Amidala was as sharp as a tack, wielded diplomacy like a sword, and would do anything to serve her people.

Padme having to cast aside the girl and make way for the queen took a period of adjustment.

The time for frivolous and childish games was over. If she was going to command a planet into another peaceful reign, Padme had to become a woman.

————

It was the Trade Federation that nearly cracked Padme’s resolve.

But she remained resilient.

Naboo’s safety depended on her.

————

The desert boy was a wild card, a wrench thrown into carefully constructed plans.

There was something about him, though, that brought out the Naberrie side of Padme that she buried long ago.

————

Padme’s queenship ended faster than she had expected it to.

It felt like just yesterday she was meeting her handmaidens and getting to know them.

She held back tears when the women she trusted with her life left her.

All but a chosen few said tearful goodbyes, since some would continue to follow her throughout her career. She would always need protection.

Padme had an entirely new horizon ahead. She wanted to move her political career to the next level.

The Galactic Senate, here she comes.

————

Padme faced a level of scrutiny in the Senate that she never had before.

But she wore her Padme Amidala mask, and swallowed any retorts that Padme Naberrie would have voiced without hesitation.

————

She fought tooth and nail for her Senate seat.

She knew that half of the chamber in Coruscant hated her for her ideals and her youth and her motivation and her beauty — which she knew she had in abundance — and her easy rhetoric.

Padme made her speeches almost impossible to argue against, and her fellow politicians were clearly jealous.

They were probably thinking: who does this little girl think she is?

She would answer: what little girl?

————

And lo, the desert boy became a man.

Or an almost-man, if his brashness and overconfidence were anything to go by.

————

It amazed Padme how, after a decade apart, Anakin still held a candle for her and kept her firmly placed on a pedestal too high for anyone to reach.

And he still brought out that Naberrie side of her.

————

His obsession with her were clear warning signs to Senator Padme Amidala.

But all of the conflicting thoughts about Anakin Skywalker in her head were getting to be too much.

For once in her life, she chose Padme Naberrie.

————

She wasn’t being rational.

Deep down, she knew this.

But she didn’t care anymore.

If she could have one thing, only one thing for herself, for Padme Naberrie, she would choose Anakin.

————

Marrying Anakin at the beginning of a war was setting herself up for disaster.

She knew this. She did.

Padme Naberrie was in charge, though.

And she loved Anakin, despite her mind telling her no.

Love wasn’t rational.

Anakin loved her for most of his life. It was about time she caught up with him.

————

Padme’s mind and life split into two.

On one side, she was the ever-vigilant and inspiring Senator of Naboo.

On the other side, she was Padme Skywalker, — yet another name to add to her roster — an understanding wife to the Jedi Anakin Skywalker.

She put herself in an impossible situation, where she gets tugged back and forth between her two lives like a doll.

One day, she would surely tear in half.

————

Padme’s pregnancy complicated everything.

Anakin chose to see the good things about having a child, but she was left to consider the hard options.

Her career would be cut short, but it was the price she paid for love.

Her best option would be to retire to Naboo with Anakin — who would have to forsake the Jedi Order that raised him — and care for the child there.

Padme let herself imagine this life. She thinks she would be a good mother, but being a politician for half of her life would be hard to shake.

She would itch to help Naboo, and her plan to go into hiding would make that impossible.

Perhaps she could pull strings behind the scenes to scratch her itch.

That was an idea.

————

Of course, before any of her dreams could come to fruition, Anakin had to go and break her heart.

————

Her husband was a monster.

She didn’t see it.

No one saw it, until it was too late.

What made him this way? What did it?

How did she miss it?

She wondered if there was any way this all could have been avoided, or at least fixed.

Her mind whirling, she came up with alternate events and words that could have been said to prevent it.

But none of her options would have helped.

That, she was sure of.

————

Anakin hurt her.

He stole the air from her lungs.

Padme felt her organs failing, but she held on.

Just a little longer...

————

Padme used the last of her energy to birth two children.

Twins.

A boy and a girl.

She gave them the first two names that popped into her head.

Nubian names.

Luke and Leia.

Padme saw her crying beautiful babies and struggled to smile.

Her vision was blurring.

It was getting to be too much. She felt her body failing her.

Padme Naberrie Amidala Skywalker looked at her children one last time, and let go.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated!


End file.
